MCC plans to increase aid for flooded Mozambique

Mennonite Central Committee
Friday, 3 March 2000

AKRON, Pa. — Some 1 million Mozambicans are now homeless due to heavy rains and a cyclone that have flooded the country. Hundreds remain stranded in trees and on rooftops, waiting to be rescued. Crops have been washed away. Diseases such as malaria and cholera are on the rise. Rain-swollen rivers continue to carry more water from the highlands of South Africa and Zimbabwe into Mozambique.

MCC has given $32,000 Cdn./$22,000 U.S. to aid flood victims in Mozambique and plans to do more. Preliminary ideas include providing more food, supplies such as clothing and tarps, and possibly seeds and tools so people can replant their fields when the water subsides. MCC needs funds to expand its assistance. Checks can be sent to any MCC office, designated for "Mozambique flood relief," or project #5627-2000.

MCC currently has seven workers in Mozambique.

* James Kornelsen and Michelle Janzen of Winnipeg, Man., have been distributing relief with Christian Council of Mozambique staff. (See "Letter from Mozambique: A deep trench where Alberto and Laura's house used to be." They are coordinating MCC's flood relief programs in Mozambique.

* Cheryl Delaplane of Ames, Oklahoma, and Elizabeth Henderson of London, Ontario, live north of Maputo.

* MCC workers Mark and Sarah Schloneger of Millersburg, Ohio, report from Cambine, Inhambane Province, that food is scarce and the poor cannot afford to buy what is available.

(MCC's Mozambique program directors, Christine and Harold Wenger of Mt. Joy, Pennsylvania, are currently on home leave.)

An MCC assessment team is scheduled to arrive in Mozambique next week. The team will consist of Tim Lind, MCC worker in South Africa, Willie Reimer, director of MCC's Food, Disaster and Material Resources department, and MCC Mozambique worker James Kornelson. The team will be joined by Mark Beach of MCC's Communications department. The assessment team will recommend further MCC action to relieve suffering in Mozambique.

For more information, or to contact Mennonite Central Committee, see their website at: www.mcc.org